RE: OT - Shutting down an RS/6000 ?

> From: Hans Boldt
>
> And if a Unix admin wanted to find out how to shutdown an iSeries,
> would it really be any easier for him to discover the PWRDWNSYS command?

Hans, I hope you're not actually intimating that a Unix system is as
user-friendly as an AS/400.  If so, your bias is getting a little lopsided,
even for you.


> Like any operating system, you have to learn the commands and
> conventions. OS/400 has its quirks too - I still can't always figure
> out when to use WRKxxx or STRxxx or DSPxxx etc. after 21 years on
> this system!

Is this the OS, or you?  The fact that you can say WRKxxx shows that OS/400
commands are named consistently, something you certainly cannot say about
Unix commands.


> But just as OS/400 operators know to press F4 or F1 for
> assistance, Unix/Linux/Posix operators know about command option -h
> or --help, or how to read a manpage.

Which doesn't work on the shutdown command.  And the fact that you can
prompt an OS/400 command, and a parameter, while entering the command makes
it light years ahead of a man page.  Not only that, the F4 assist menu
groups all related commands, and the GO CMDxxx allows you to look up
commands by verb or noun.

If I see the command WRKSYSSTS, or EDTF, or CRTDEVD, I have a pretty good
idea of what it does from the name.  Also, I can usually find the command I
need by knowing the appropriate abbreviation, such as CRT for "create" or
SPLF for "spooled file".  If I want to create something in OS/400, I type GO
CMDCRT.  If I want to find out what commands are available for spooled
files, I type GO CMDSPLF.

On the other hand, in Unix, "cat" is copy, "grep" is string search, "man" is
help, "ls" is directory contents.  How does one figure out what commands
such as "df", "chmod", "sed", "stty" or "ps" do?  By going to the man pages
for each individual command.  But how do you even know which command to look
at?  Unix really shows its age and its temperament when you have commands
like "yacc" (Yet Another Compiler Compiler).  The name is cute, but
arbitrary.  Much Unix expertise is like this - more of a mythology handed
down over the generations than a self-consistent body of knowledge.

I've worked on both operating systems (and a few others besides), and while
I've spent more time on OS/400 than Unix, I think you're one of the only
people who would ever suggest that Unix commands are even close to OS/400 in
ease of use.  It's these sorts of statements that really sort of taint your
other, often very valid, comments, Hans.

Joe